I have been collecting comic books and Non Sports trading cards for about 20 years. This guide will hopefully enlighten some of you on how to go about finding that certain comic or card you have been searching for at a good price. 

First if you have been collecting Comics or Non Sports Cards or just getting started  you should have a price guide handy for reference like (The Overstreet price guide, Wizard magazine, or Comics Buyers guide), they list current prices for comics and (Non Sports Update for cards).

Second is how to search for your item. Start by typing in search words for example (Marvel comics) you will get more hits than you need, try to narrow your search to what you want for example (Marvel comics Spiderman), you will get less hits but still you can narrow this down further, try (Spiderman #100) you should get all the Spiderman series #100. Once you have found the comic you are looking for, try to see if there might be more than one of the same comic listed, compare all of them and pick the right one for you. Now keep in mind not all of the sellers know how to properly grade comics. If you are going for a near mint to mint comic try to find ones that have been graded (CGC)(1.0 to 10.0)10.0 being Mint, this way you will know for sure what you are getting, it costs more but well worth it. When I buy comics I look for the ones that give a really good description, and a good photo of the item, this way if I want to bid I know what I am bidding on before hand. There are also variant cover comics, limited editions and exclusives, some of which are only available at comic conventions, most of these will not be listed in most comic guide books, so purchase price is up to you.

For both item searches, you can go into advanced search, type in what you are looking for, also decide if you are looking for (newly listed items), (ending soon items) or other type, and there is a tab for how many hits per page up to 200. There is lastly a tab that says (all catagorys). You can also search ebay stores from this page. Look at the entire page, and you might discover a new way to search that you might not of thought of.

Now for Non Sports Trading cards. You go about searching the same way for comic books, start by figuring out what you are looking for and search out the item for example type in the name of the manufacturer or name of the set like (Inkworks Scorpion King) you should get hits on all Inkworks cards and Scorpion King cards. Once you have found the card/s you want again look to see if there are more than one listed and choose the best one for you. Cards are graded also but not as much as comics are. When I look for a specific card/s to fill in my sets I like to see in an ad a complete description and photo, some sellers do not include a photo, and some do not describe the item in detail. There are also lots of special cards out there for sale these are mostly called Promotional cards for example (limited edition/exclusive cards from Comic Conventions, overseas editions, cards that were only available in certain magazines or with comic books, some are dealer cards). Prices for these cards are either in a card guide (mentioned along with a set) or a promo card guide, sometimes there are no prices in a guide for these cards, or the card is not listed at all, so use your best judgement, and of course how much you are willing to spend. You can also buy unopened boxes of cards, the guide also tells of what the going price is, then again you decide if the price is right.

I hope this helps some of you to understand how to go about finding that special comic or card.

Creativeminds